The Coastal Packet is the local edition of the Progressive Review, following Maine news and progressive politics.

Sunday, October 1

Nestle ripping off Michigan as well as Maine water

Alternet - Flint
became synonymous with lead-poisoned water after government officials,
looking to save money, switched the city’s water supply from Detroit
city water to water from the corrosive Flint river.

Once the city had switched, the number of children with elevated lead exposure doubled; residents reported unexplained rashes and losing hair. An unpublished study recently found fetal deaths in Flint increased by 58% during the crisis.

...Despite
having endured lead-laden tap water for years, Flint pays some of the
highest water rates in the US. Several residents cited bills upwards of
$200 per month for tap water they refuse to touch.

But just two
hours away, in the tiny town of Evart, creeks lined by wildflowers run
with clear water. The town is so small, the fairground, McDonald’s, high
school and church are all within a block. But in a town of only 1,503
people, there are a dozen wells pumping water from the underground
aquifer. This is where the beverage giant Nestlé pumps almost 100,000
times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottles that are sold all over the midwest for around $1.

Now,
Nestlé wants more Michigan water. In a recent permit application, the
company asked to pump 210m gallons per year from Evart, a 60% increase,
and for no more than it pays today. In the coming months, the state is
set to decide whether Nestlé can to pump even more.

Community Water, Maine -Nestlé (Poland Spring) pays no corporate taxes in the state of Maine. Though their US headquarters is based in Connecticut, we understand they use the tax shelter of Delaware.

The governor of Delaware is now speaking out and warns us of corporate welfare and how it is not in the best interest of citizen taxpayers.

"I was as guilty as any elected official at playing this game. But it’s a game that should stop. There’s a better way to compete for business....it would be better for taxpayers if these kinds of cash incentives could be invested instead in such things as schools and infrastructure."

About the editor

Coastal Packet is edited by Sam Smith, who covered Washington under nine presidents, has edited the Progressive Review for 53 years, wrote four books, been published in five anthologies, helped to start six organizations (including the the national Green Party and the DC Statehood Party), was a plaintiff in three successful class action suits, served as a Coast Guard officer, and played in jazz bands for four decades. Albeit from away, he first started coming to Maine in 1946, and now lives here full time.